


Believe

by Kirinime



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/M, Human Names Used, M/M, Magic AU, Who cares tho, i think, obv because they aren't countries in there, ooc means out of character i hope, probably extremely ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-17 09:33:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11848797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirinime/pseuds/Kirinime
Summary: Leon would never have expected meeting a fox would turn out like this.(Damn that's a good summary)





	1. Chapter 1

Usually he didn’t go out to run. Totally not because of his stamina.  
It is just extremely boring.  
Leon preferred being on Tumblr.  
But today his head was one second away from exploding so he had to get out of his house. Yao didn’t seem to get that his partner Ivan, a pretty terrifying Russian didn’t like Leon.  
Obviously he wouldn’t hurt him, or that is what he hoped.  
In the house already lived four people and with a giant, that to emphasize it again didn’t like him, he had to run. Just to get a bit of air.

After a while he got to a halt at a spring where he sat down. Not because he was out of breath!  
He plucked grass, when he saw something on the other side of the small pond. A deer stood on the edge and drank the water. It was astonishing, usually deers were extremely shy. Maybe it hasn’t noticed him, which would probably mean the animal was blind because he literally sat right in front of it.  
Suddenly there was the sound of other animal footsteps.  
A fox came out of the brushwood, scaring the other animal which fled.  
Maybe Leon should have gone away, but he was amazed by the fox. It wasn’t an usual fox, the fur was white and fluffy. And he was pretty sure polar foxes didn’t exist in China, outside of a zoo.  
The fox barked at him, though he really didn’t get a dangerous vibe from it. So he stayed. If he should get attacked there was no doubt Leon would win. He could probably kick the fox away, even if he would rather go away peacefully.  
“Human”  
What the fuck?  
Those words didn’t come out of the fox mouth. Did they?  
He turned around to run away, but once again the same voice spoke: “Please wait”  
“Shit, I’m hallucinating”  
Once again he turned around to look at the animal, which sat in front of him and stared up.  
“Did I frighten you? I am deeply sorry, but it has been a long time since I have spoken to a human being”  
“Wait, why are you talking?”  
“Would you do me a favour?”  
Okay, this has to be a prank. He should probably just get along with it.  
“Yeah sure, totally. Which favour, dear fox?”  
It seemed as if the fox felt the sarcasm because it glared at him and growled: “I need a red jasper”  
“Dunno anyone called Jasper”  
“I mean the gem!”  
Leon tried to restrain a grin: “Why would I? Why would I even, like know where to get one”  
“I am fairly confident you know exactly where to find a jasper”  
To be honest he really knew where to get one. Plus Yao had one, too. Something about wisdom. Maybe the fox wanted to be wise too.  
“Please come here tomorrow. I will be here”, and a bit quieter it muttered, “not that I have anything to do”  
He was sure the fox didn’t mean to be heard at the last part, but Leon had to agree.

Leon stared at his mobile. It was pretty hard not telling anyone about what happened. Though who would believe him?  
Like, he just chatted with a polar fox. Which tomorrow he will bring a jasper. Believable.  
Well he hardly believed himself. Perhaps he should get lobotomy. Yes he was aware that lobotomy won’t help shit.  
“Yao”  
“Yes? What do you want?”  
“Why do you keep that stone?”, he pointed at the jasper.  
“Oh, dear! That is not just a stone, that is red jasper. A beautiful gem. It stands for wisdom, power and love. And it is good for your liver, skin-“  
A knock on the front door interrupted the Chinese man: “Could you please look who’s there”  
“Dude!”  
In front of Leon stood Alfred, an US-American who moved to China two years ago. He was Leons best friend and they were supposed to meet today.  
“Oh”  
“Yeah, oh! You could have really said something. I probably looked like an idiot waiting all alone in the park”  
“Sorry”  
“No, no. That is not okay!”  
“You wanna spend the night?”  
“Obviously. Why else would I be here?”  
Alfred talked about his newest hook-up, a British girl who he thought would be the right girl for him.  
Meanwhile Leon looked up the gem (and signs for schizophrenia).  
“Dude, since when do you like witchcraft?”  
“What?”  
“Gems, herbs and that shit. You should totally meet Alice, she’s so into that!”  
Yao, too.  
“No, I just want my Tumblr to be more asthetic”  
“Which is 90% memes. The other ten are just gay”  
Leon just nodded. That excuse was pretty lame he had to admit.  
“I don’t know if Alice has Tumblr but she would surely have the moon phases on it”  
Instead of a spoken answer he just pressed a controller into Alfreds hand.

“Next time you should tell me before you leave me waiting”, Alfred told him with a playful pout.  
“Like I said before, I’m sorry”  
They said goodbye, even though Leon had to go out too. To give a fox a jasper. And because he was kind of scared to steal Yaos stone, he will have to buy one.

“Hey, fox! I have…”, he was interrupted by a gentle nudge against his leg.  
“Not that loud, no one has to hear this”, hissed the fox.  
“Who should hear us?”  
“Other animals, obviously” Oh yeah, makes sense.  
“Here”  
The eyes of the animal lightened up in delight. Do polar foxes have lilac eyes?  
“Please just lay him down here”  
Leon followed the instructions. Then the fox touched the jasper with its snout and smoke rose.  
A bit horrified, Leon covered his mouth and nose with his hand until the smoke faded. And instead of the animal a completely naked boy stood in front of him.  
Well, that wasn’t a prank anymore: “Did… did you just… what?!”  
“Thank you very much. How can I thank you?”  
“By putting on clothes”  
“Well, that could be a bit problematic, you know. I do not have clothes”  
“I could give you some of mine. But I have to ask, what do you want to do now that you’re … human?”  
“I’m not sure, but it’s pretty good to stand on two legs”  
“You didn’t even try standing up”, to be honest, he really hoped, as cliché as it would be that the white haired boy would fall down. That would be hilarious.  
Ironically, exactly this happened. And even though in the end Leon caught him, the face that the boy made was pretty funny.  
“I’m fine, you can let go”, he pouted.  
He let go so the other boy now stood on shaky legs. “Do you have a name?”  
“My name is Emil”, he told him. Oh, he didn’t expect such a unmystical name.  
“I’m Leon”, Leon introduced himself.  
“Thank you, Leon. How can I pay you back?”  
“Probably not with money. But really, just come with me. No, better you just wait here. I’ll get you clothes first”  
“As you wish”


	2. Chapter 2

It was already night when they stood in front of the house. Emil had a long, brown cloak on, matching pants and a white dress shirt. The outfit was one that Leon had never worn once, so it just laid on the floor of the closet. And because he was in a hurry, he didn’t grab shoes. Well, maybe he forgot them.  
“You have to be quiet or Yao will wake up”  
It seemed like Emil wanted to answer something, but he changed his mind fast and just nodded.  
They sneaked into Leons room where Emil just stood stunned.  
Leon sat down on his desk chair and pointed at his bed: “You can sit down. I wanna ask you a few questions”  
Emil nodded silently and sat down on the bed.  
“So how come that you were a polar fox?”  
“Well, you know, I’ve been a human before. I lived with my family in Iceland, or rather with a family.  
They came from Norway and adopted me. We lived happy until the ex from my bigger brother found it would be good to take revenge on him. Turned out she knew magic”  
“Wait, but why are you in China now?”  
“A couple on holidays thought it would be a good idea to bring a polar fox as souvenir”, Emil rolled his eyes.  
“Stupid. Why didn’t you put up a fight?”  
“I didn’t really see a point in it, there was nothing that held me back in Iceland. Since that incident I never saw my family again”  
“Damn, that’s kinda fucked up. And another question, why do you know that you need a jasper?”  
“I accidentally touched one, don’t ask how, and ran away as I didn’t really wanted to come up with an excuse why there was a boy instead of their beloved pet… But I wasn’t a human for that long. Did you know I don’t age as fox?”  
“Okay, okay. Ah, so when were you even born then?”  
“1986”  
“You should be 31 then. Wow, you’d make many old people jealous. You look like you’re 17”  
Emil glared at him: “Haha, very funny. Technically I am 17”  
“So and has it ever occurred to you that you could just wear the jasper?”  
He shook his head: “I was in a rush when I transformed back. And since then I never really tried. It would be pretty risky breaking into a house, don’t you think?”  
“Same goes for shop. Yeah, I agree”, he held out one hand, “give me the stone”

“Cute”, Leon grinned. He had made a necklace with the jasper on, so the other boy could wear it.  
“I hope this lasts”, Emil bit his lip, “I don’t really want to be a fox again”  
“Shocking. We should go sleeping now, though. You can stay in the bed, I’ll sleep on the couch”  
Emil thanked him and laid down in fetal position.  
Not long after he fell asleep, but Leon laid awake a bit longer. He had to process what happened.

Because he knew he couldn’t just bring a stranger to breakfast the next day, he decided to smuggle a fried egg up. Which turned out to be harder then he thought. In the end, Leons shirt was a bit dirty but it wasn’t bad so he got it out easily. Lucky other than food in the bedrooms water was allowed, so he already had a glass in his room. And Emil didn’t really have a problem with his germs, he was probably just to grateful to demand an own glass. Though Leon will some time get him his own. Unlike Emil he wasn’t that fond of sharing a glass forever.  
Which brought him to the next issue.  
Living with Emil was temporary, that he was aware of, but where should the boy go. There was a small chance that Yao would allow him to “keep” him. Maybe Emil could go work and then afford an own apartment?

“I wanna show you the city”, he opened the conversation, while Emil was still eating, “and since you know that Yao does not know that you’re here and I’m 100% sure he will not be amused when a stranger is in his house, we can’t just walk out the door. You have two options. Either I distract my family and you run as fast as you can… or this”  
Leon looked at the window.  
Emil followed his gaze: “Wouldn’t be impossible”  
“Don’t overestimate yourself”  
“No. You see that branch? I totally can make that jump. You just have to pray it does not break. And you have to take my necklace. I don’t want to lose it or strangle myself”  
He took it off and in the next second there was the smoke again, signalling the transformation.  
They should have known. Leon put his hand on his forehead, but he couldn’t himself, he had to laugh.  
“This is not funny!”  
“Leon!”  
The laughter died out as someone knocked on his door. Mei!  
Immediately the fox hid under the bed and Leon sat on the bed so his legs covered the animal.  
“Yes?”  
His sister opened the door and stepped in: “I saw smoke. And with whom did you talk?”  
“Skype. And I think you imagined the smoke”  
“Really, if you smoke, you shouldn’t do it in the house. Go outside”  
“Thanks for the advice but wouldn’t it smell if it was a cigarette”  
She hummed in defeat and turned around to go away again. Before she went away she said: “You should clean up. Why does this outfit even lie on the ground. I’ve never seen you in it”  
“I sort out”  
Finally she nodded and walked out of his bedroom, being so polite and closing the door again Something that you can’t expect from everyone… like everyone else in this goddamn house.  
After a while when he was sure she was away, he allowed the polar fox to come out again.  
Leon took out a backpack, stuffed the clothes and the necklace in: “You think you fit in here?”  
“Do I have a choice?”  
“Nope”, he lowered the backpack so it was easier for Emil to crawl into it.  
“Shit, that’s cramped”  
“And you’re heavy, shh”

“I’m going out. Does anyone need something?”, he asked into the living room where Yao and his brother Im Yong Soo were debating.  
“Bring me sweets please!”, answered his brother happily.  
“I need money”  
“Oh”, he squinted to Yao.  
“You know where the money is. But do not take too much! I know exactly how much is in there!”  
Was he stingy or generous?  
He got the money, slipped into his shoes: “Bye!”  
They were in the forest again, deep enough so nobody could see them.  
Even though he didn’t say it out loud, he had a little doubt the jasper wouldn’t work again.  
Thank God it did though. He didn’t want to buy another one.  
“You can turn around again”, Emil was human and in full clothes, now even with shoes on.

Then they finally went into the city.  
After they went into the sweets store to buy Im Yong Soos toffees and liquorice for Emil because he was so fascinated by it, they went south: “We’ll go to the park because there are 1. cute dogs and 2. super cute dogs”  
Emil chuckled at Leons enthusiasm.

“I hope you’re not triggered”, Leon joked.  
“What?”  
“Oh, ah nothing”, yeah, that was awkward as fuck.  
They sat on a bench and watched the dogs and commenting on them.  
“Oh my God, Leon! Hi!”, it came from far away. Alfred ran to them with a Blonde, who’s hair was in two pigtails.  
“Hey”, he greeted back when his friend finally was there. The girl was still a bit away, but other then Alfred she didn’t run.  
“That’s Alice… my girlfriend! Yeah!”, he tried looking smug, but ended up looking as if he was in pain, “and who’s this?”  
“I’m Emil, nice to meet you”  
“Same, my name’s Alfred”  
Then finally Alice came too. Suddenly Leon heard Emil gasping and when he turned around his eyes where round, as if he feared something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like cats


	3. Chapter 3

He knew this face. Back then she didn’t wear pigtails, but he was sure, she even had this British accent.  
Her eyes lingered at her while Alfred was still talking. Maybe she recognized him?  
“Emil was it, am I right?”  
Emil just nodded, his tongue did not let him speak and he felt heavy. That bitch made him spend years in a forest, losing his family and friends.  
Alice’s mouth angle briefly lifted: “You’re not from here, huh?”  
It didn’t really sound like a question, more like a fact.  
“Iceland”, he answered shortly.  
Leon noticed his misery and luckily interfered. “Seems like I’m the only Chinese here”, he joked.  
Alfred started laughing while Alice just giggled quietly. It sounded so fake to his ears.  
How he would love to get revenge. To let her pay for her sins.  
“Leon, I forgot, I had to go somewhere”, he was never good at excuses.  
He looked at him questioning but didn’t ask, so they said goodbye.  
“I hope we see each other again soon”, Alice said.  
“You’re so much nicer to them! Why?”, complained her boyfriend.

“What happened?”  
They were back in Leons room. He told the old man that Emil was a friend. That wasn’t wrong he hoped. But why would Leon let him stay with him when he didn’t like him? Perhaps he just wanted to be kind…  
The other boy snapped with his fingers in front of Emils face, which made him flinch hard.  
“Oh god, don’t do that again!”, he complained.  
“You weren’t listening. So, what happened back there?”  
He considered telling him. But would he believe him? Whilst it wasn’t the weirdest thing that happened, he has been a fox only one day ago, just mentioning it, he didn’t want to put a friend of Leon into the wrong light.  
“I’m shy”  
“You’re even worse in excuses then me”  
It wasn’t a surprise that he looked through that, Emil was sure the boy was really intelligent.  
“I know her”  
Should he say it?  
“From my brother”  
“What, you mean the girl who transformed you?”  
“Yup. I know, it’s weird. But I am 100 % sure she’s it. How could I forget her face. It burned itself in my brain and haunted me for all those years. Leon, she ripped me away from my life and stole my happiness!”  
Please, he has to believe him.  
Leon didn’t say a word, it looked like he was thinking about it.  
Then he just stood up and went away, closing the door.  
His whole body shivered because he tried so much to not cry. He didn’t understand why he went away, leaving him.  
Breathing hard, he opened the door, when he heard Leon.  
“Please let him stay. He hates being alone and his parents won’t come back for two weeks”  
Oh.  
“And he is all alone? Why would these people leave their son? Or do they not know of his fear?”  
“I never said he is afraid. He just likes company”  
“I’m sure there’s something behind all this. A trauma!”  
“Nah, you’re overthinking that, totally overthinking”  
Instead of an answer the noise of a chair scraping on the floor followed.  
Wait, he should go back into the room. He was practically eavesdropping, accidentally. Doesn’t look good, even if it was a harmless conversation. So he hurried back and moments later he heard a pair of feet going up the stairs.  
“Dear, I heard of your fear”, the man Emil couldn’t remember the name of entered and sat down, “do you want to talk about it? We will get through it together!”  
How should he answer that?!  
“Ah, I… thank you, but I don’t want to talk about it”  
Leon peaked into the room and Emil shot him a glare which was answered by a thumbs up and then he fled.  
“Is it a trauma? Have you been abandoned?”  
Doesn’t he know the borders? Who would randomly ask questions like this?  
“Really, nothing happened. I have a good life. Nothing to complain about”, he assured him.  
“You can tell me, okay? We will see each other often enough in the next two weeks!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh I think this chapter is pretty lame but i liked writing it lmao  
> and omg i'm going to ireland today i'll be so good at english after that ;)


	4. Chapter 4

“Leon”  
After Emil finally succeeded getting politely rid of the man, Yao how he was told, it got dark fast.  
He lied on the couch, but he couldn’t really sleep. Really, you would think after living in the forest for so long he would be used to lying on a hard ground, but that’s not the truth. In the forest he had moss, leaves and other comfortable things to sleep on.  
“Yeah?”, the answer was damped by the pillow in which Leon murmured into.  
“Why do you let me live with you?”  
It just was weird. They didn’t know each other. Who lets a stranger live with one? And their first meeting was not the best, special though.  
“Why not?”, Leon just said.  
“I don’t know, almost immediately after I turned human you offered me that I can move in here”  
“You know, I kinda liked you from the beginning. You’re different and sassy. In a nice way though.  
Emil turned a bit red. Compliments always made him a bit uncomfortable.  
“Well thank you. You’re unique too”, it’s getting awkward, God.  
“You should sleep now, good night”  
“Night”

“Wake up! Yao wants to eat breakfast. Like right now”  
He clawed at the pillow. Emil finally had been able to sleep properly and he was not willing to get out from the warm blanket. And totally did he want to give up his rest for that old man which would just try to squeeze out more information from his childhood.  
“Right now or I’ll have to use harder measures”, Leon demanded.  
“A moment”, he stretched.  
Suddenly he felt a warm hand on his stomach. Before he could question it started tickling him.  
“Leon! Leave me alone!”, he giggled.  
Obviously he did not.  
“I’m getting up, okay!”, he didn’t even have a reason to stay anymore, it got uncomfortable and he was awake.  
He glared at Leon on the way to the bathroom.

“Mei, Yong Soo, that’s my friend Emil, he’s gonna live here a time”, Leon introduced him.  
Mei looked at him sceptically while Yong Soo greeted him with a friendly hug. How can he be full of energy in the morning?  
“You have to be careful, this boy is traumatized from his childhood”, Yao gripped his shoulders gently as if he thought he’d break. Can’t he fucking stop with this?  
“Oh, I’ve never seen you. Where do you live?”, asked the girl looking suspiciously at him. What’s wrong with her? That family’s just plain weird, damn.  
“Near school”, answered Leon for him. Luckily because he didn’t have an answer. Yes, he had lived her for a while… in a forest!  
“So why is he living here now? He has never been here?”  
“We mostly met at his place”  
She gave a understanding nod. Emil just nodded.   
Then Leon whispered something into her ear. Her eyes went wide for a second and she looked at him unbelieving: “Really?”  
“No whispering in my house!”, Yao intervened.

Since Leon told her something silently, Mei stopped questioning him.  
But what did he tell her?  
Does he want to know?  
Could it be that incest was legal now? Would be disgusting.  
So in the end he did not ask, maybe he would have been ashamed. And then he would throw Emil out and that he could not risk.  
“We didn’t continue our talk yesterday”, remembered Leon.  
Ah, yeah, because he just went away? Cracking his heart a bit? Like he was his first friend since years, obviously this would affect him!  
“You could have told me what you wanted to do instead of just going away”, he crossed his arms.  
“At least I persuaded Yao”, defended Leon himself.  
And now he was the broken child in Yaos eyes, nice.  
“Yes, and I’m really thankful for that. But would it have been so hard to tell me?”, no he wasn’t mad at him.  
“Okay, sorry. Now going to Alice, you think”, Emil shook his head, “okay, you know she is the evil witch turning you into a fox. And what? You think she will tell you something?”  
That sounded as Leon was mocking him.   
“Maybe? I don’t know, do I look like I’m a clairvoyant? Who even knows if she still knows me!”  
Then Leon got something out of his pocket and pressed with fast fingers on it.  
“What’s that?”, he asked curious.  
Leon looked at him surprised. Or more like he was crazy. “That?”  
“Yep, that”  
“A mobile. I’m looking for Alice on Facebook. Maybe I’m getting something out of it”, he answered.  
Of course, Facebook. How could he have not known!  
No, but it was amazing how far humanity already got in technology. There were so many pictures of Alice, other people, even Alfred!  
“She’s in the cinema right now. That’s not far away, we could go there”, announced Leon.  
“How do you know that?”  
“She just posted a picture from her in front of it, saying she’s gonna watch some new film”  
“Should we really go there?”, he was a bit nervous. Like he wanted to get answers but to be honest. He had great respect for Alice’ magic. Who knew how good she had got in the last years.

Since the film was still ongoing, they waited a bit. But then they could hear a bit noise and then the door swung open and finally, a group of girls with Alice got out.  
“Alice”  
She looked at them for a second and then told the other girls something.  
“What are you doing?”, she asked when she stood directly in front of them.  
“You’re the girlfriend of my best friend and so I thought we could maybe, like getting to know each other?”  
“And you certainly did not search me because you wanted to ask something more… magically”, she grinned.  
“Wait, so really cursed him?”, Leon looked surprised at her, than Emil.  
“Oh sure I did. I’m glad you finally turned back. How did you do that?”, her voice dripped pure sarcasm.  
“As if I would tell you that!”, he spit, now disgusted by just her presence.  
“Not even in exchange for a few answers. Or why did you come here?”, she said cunningly.  
His lip quivered a bit and he had to bite it to stop it. Okay, he’ll play her game.  
“First I want to know how my family is, then I will tell you”  
Alice smirked: “Lovely. I keep my promise, you keep yours. But sadly I can’t tell you if your parents are even alive anymore. I have been away for quite a time. What I know is that they wanted to find you really bad. Tragically, you know the outcome”  
As she did not continue, he asked about his brother. But she just shook her head: “That’s not how it goes. Tell me, did my spell not last forever?”  
“Red jasper”, Leon interrupted their debate.  
“Red jasper?”, she repeated, “a gem? That’s how you transformed back?”  
Emil nodded: “So, what’s with my brother?”  
“I don’t know”, she smiled and turned around to leave.  
“Wait! You did not answer me anything! You bitch, stop!”, he didn’t mean to curse her, but he couldn’t think clear, enraged by how this went.  
“Calm down, people are already staring”, Leon took his wrist to keep him from following Alice.  
“I don’t care about those! She didn’t keep her promise, she tricked me! I don’t have the answers I wanted!”, he complained loudly.  
“Come, we’re going back. I’ll make you tea, you can eat pastries, okay?”  
His shoulders dropped and he silently went back with Leon. If he would have said another word he would have probably cried. What did he think how this would go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sad, I miss Ireland :(


End file.
